They will, as long as you fall over on a slippy floor in the supermarket and bust your ankle

....and thats the other side of the coin.... if the parents had been lawyers from Bearsden then they would have sued the club for breaching the weans human rights not to have a swim when they want to!!

If the pool was busy I see the powers at be as being potentially correct.

I wonder how many of the individuals claiming outrage are also the same people claiming outrage when young kids in overcrowded pools get into trouble and accidents happen because h&s isn't followed. Unfortunately through my observations, the majority are made to be extra careful because of the incapable but numerous minority who don't keep their eyes on their kids.

When accidents happen people are often quick to blame everyone else apart from the one person who's at blame, themselves. They'll try to blame someone else who has to watch a whole pool when they can't watch their own child. And I believe this is why rules have become quite draconian.

I swim very often and have seen with my own eyes more than a few times why these rules are put in place. From seeing this, I lean towards the rules being appropriate.

Its hard to believe that parents are not able to make their own judgement about what is and what is not safe for children. When I was a kid we went swimming all the time to Govanhill baths and they ware stowed during the summer but we didnt even have one parent between half a dozen (or more) kids. I appreciate that the facilities people have a job to do but if the kids are in the pool with two parents then surely it is they who are responsible for their wellbeing?

Reading all these in-the pool stories, especially the one of the lady wi' the big hook, reminds me of the time I went to Grimsby swimming baths wi' my wife and kids. The pool was a T shape with the extentionT used only for diving from a high board. I wanted to show my kids a drop we used to do in the RAF at St Athan where we had a Commonwealth Games sized pool. You just stand to attention, stretch up on your toes and let your body tilt through 180° then go straight down into the water head first like a bullet. Very impressive ... when done right. I must have been a degree or two out of the perpendicular as I broke the water with my head and was nearly knocked out. Felt a bit lame on one side but I managed a one arm side crawl back to the side of the pool and with great effort managed to reach up to the ledge where I hung on trying without success to heave myself out as my wife ran to help me.The pool attendant; a woman, got there first and, with her foot on my head, pushed me back into the water shouting Use the steps! at me.I just sunk into the water for a moment still fighting to stay conscious.That was when she realised I was in trouble and hastily pulled me back up ... by the hair. None of wee davy's elf and safety there.I was ok after a couple of minutes but I stayed away from the High Dale after that.

--------------------

"Destiny is a good thing to accept when it's going your way. When it isn't, don't call it destiny; call it injustice, treachery, or simple bad luck.” ― Joseph Heller, God Knows

I'm going slightly off topic here but it is still relevant to health and safety. Just very recently there was a tragic boating accident in loch Gairloch in which two young children and their father drowned. There were two adults in a canoe with the kids when it overturned. Neither adult was wearing a life jacket. One of the adults with his daughter managed to swim ashore. I dont want to go into the inns and out of this very sad case case but it can be said that if the adults had been wearing life jackets the two young children could have been saved and if all had been wearing life jackets then they would all have been able to stay afloat until a rescue boat arrived. This is surely as case where if health and safety had been considered by the adults before taking the boat out to sea this tragedy may have been avoided

All material in the site Glasgow Guide is copyright of the Glasgow Guide Organisation. This material is for your own private use only, and no part of the site may be reproduced, amended, modified, copied, or transmitted to third parties, by any means whatsoever without the prior written permission of the copyright owner. All rights reserved.